NORFOLK, Va. — Even since the string of suicides in 2022 and 2023, Navy leaders have been laser-focused on what they can do to improve the quality of life for sailors.
Members of Congress and municipal leaders are equally concerned, and they all met Monday at Naval Station Norfolk.
The conversation largely focused on Newport News Shipbuilding, where three of the sailors who died by suicide were assigned to the then-under-repair USS George Washington.
Improvements to come include better parking, housing and high-speed Internet.
"No sailor joins the military to see the shipyard for four years, for their entire tour. So, we've made a tremendous amount of progress on getting sailors out of the shipyard to other operational units, so they get a chance to do what they signed up to do, to see the world, to get port calls," said Vice Admiral Scott Gray, Navy Installations Command Commander.
Members of Congress said such upgrades are crucial.
"This is an effort to make Newport News the center of excellence for shipbuilding. It's about making Newport News Shipbuilding prioritizing quality of life for sailors," said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia,1st District).
"We took 31 amendments in this year's national authorization act to the tune of about $5 billion and made sure we are focused on that, that the Navy is taking care of our sailors," said Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia, 2nd District).
Another topic of discussion-- preparing local bases and roads around them to withstand rising sea levels and tidal and storm flooding.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia, 3rd District) said that is a critical issue--noting funding has been appropriated for the Navy to designate one individual as the regional resilience coordinator.
"We are obviously the second most at-risk area to New Orleans for seal level rise. And we need to be doing everything we can. And that takes the local, state, federal, public and private effort," said Scott.
Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said: "It is one team, one fight."